Bolton students hear about Adirondack life in bygone days

BOLTON LANDING-Students at Bolton Central Schools are learning about Adirondack history and what it was like many years ago to live in the mountains, through an outreach program offered by the Adirondack Museum.

Both high school and elementary students at Bolton Central are involved.

The elementary students are learning about daily life during the olden days in the Adirondacks, while the high schoolers are concentrating about more comprehensive aspects of the area's history.

On May 16, the youngest elementary students, in kindergarten and Pre-K classes, experienced a classroom presentation about farm life and the machines that were used to assist the farmer.

This presentation, by Adirondack Museum Educator Jessica Rubin, followed up an earlier visit that featured household and farm gadgets and artifacts. The Museum sends an educator every other month to Bolton to teach the elementary students about various topics of area history.

Because Bolton Central has invested in a school membership to the Museum, they receive not only such outreach programming, but they take field trips several times during the year, Rubin said this week. The Adirondack Museum is located in Blue Mountain Lake.

This week, Bolton High School History Teacher Scott McCarthy is bringing students to the museum to conclude his year-long Adirondack History course, which included outreach instruction in McCarthy's classroom and field trips to the school.

All the students received membership cards to the Adirondack Museum, which are valid for the season.

Bolton Central Guidance Counselor Steve Showers said that Bolton students acquire vital knowledge through this program, a collaborative effort of the school and the Museum.

"This partnership has benefitted Bolton Central students tremendously over the past 13 years and will continue to do so in the future," he said.

Rubin noted that the museum offers free admission on Sundays through the summer to residents of the Adirondacks who prove their residency.